Darkness of Light
by cottoncandyinyourface
Summary: Every time she pulled the trigger,it never left a bitter taste of killing,because in times of war and desperation,that was all she could do to protect them.They never complained,because they knew that she needed them,and that they needed her. SasuSaku AU
1. The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:** Yo. Felt the need to edit some parts of this fic. And about my other fics, the x-over one is in progress yeah? Should be up in February.

'nuff said.

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_Don't look back. Keep running. Don't look back. Everyone else is gone. Dad is gone. Mum is gone. There's nothing left to do but run._

Haruno Sakura let out a yelp of shock and terror as another building exploded a few blocks away, raining charred pieces of god-knows-what over her small form. She covered her arms over her head, almost tripping over a crack in the road. As she ran for her life, she saw, with revulsion and pity, a woman cradle her baby tighter to her breast as she just stood still, watching, waiting, for the building to fall on her, inevitably crushing her and the baby.

Sakura couldn't really blame the woman. Here, in the Districts, you can't even go to school without trembling in fear not knowing if the entire school was going to blow up the next second. One moment you're talking to your best friend at the cafeteria, the next the whole building goes ka-boom.

Getting a job is almost impossible. The pay is so pathetic even before they started cutting it down due to rapidly rising taxes.

And then there're the raids. There's bound to be at least two raids each week. Normal, on-ground, raids are usual. The more occasional, and terrifying, ones are the air raids. Once someone knows there's an air raid in that area, they know that it's the end of the line for them. Drop a bomb in the middle of the street, and the rickety apartment flats within a yard of range would be blown from its foundations.

And there're, of course, the SOLDIERs. They're like the army of a country, just that they hold a much, _much_ greater influence over everything in the Districts. They control everything. They own everything in the Districts. From a pebble on the road, right up to the filthy moss-coloured sofa which used to sit in Sakura's now-burnt down three-room apartment which she shared with her parents, who had burned down along with the rest of Sakura's possessions. She had been in tennis practice, unknowingly saving herself.

The only place which was free from all the bombing and raids, and had any source of luxury, was the Central District. That was also where all the SOLDIER recruits lived and trained, their armory and war machines hidden someplace dangerous and heavily-guarded. The Government who had partial control over the ridiculously influential army lived among them.

There were five Districts; Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Districts. Sakura currently resided in the Northern District. It was well-known throughout the entire country that the Eastern District had been completely demolished many years back, a nuclear bomb dropped smack dab right in the middle of the District, subsequently wiping the entire Eastern District off the face of the Earth.

It was strange, but ever since the devastation of the East, it had started raining ashes, and hadn't stopped since then. Sakura, in her entire fourteen and a half years of life, had never seen the blue of the sky, or if there was a colour to the solemn, grey skies she'd been living under. She had always dreamed of the green of trees, the crystal bottle green and indigo of the pristine ocean, the gentle sway of flowers in a non-polluted breeze. She sometimes wondered why she even thought of things she's never seen before.

Maybe that's why she's so damn determined to escape the raid. Maybe that's why she doesn't want her life to end. No, not just yet.

Sakura let out a small whimper, tears streaming down her pale cheek, as another building exploded a few yards away from her. She skidded to a halt, arms flung forward to protect her head from all the flying debris. Long, waist-length pink hair whipped around wildly in the raging wind. A sink flew overhead, debris trailing behind.

She looked up. Empty and lifeless pairs of eyes met bright emerald. Residents stared at her with a hopeless expression on their dirty and unwashed faces through the broken windows of their houses. She knew most of them were probably thinking, '_You're not going to make it. No one can survive an air raid._'

But she needed to get out of there. Away from the air raid. She still wanted to live. Have a future. A normal life. If that was even possible to achieve.

Sakura continued sprinting, arms pumping by her side. Her lungs were aching. She had been running home from tennis practice the moment she heard there was going to be an air raid. Seeing her home in nothing but a huge pile of ashes, the first thing that came to the girl's mind was to run and find the bomb shelter that was situated at the very end of the street. And that was exactly where she's heading now.

_Run. Just run. This can't possibly be the end._

She wasn't much of a runner, nor was her stamina good. By now, her steps are becoming pathetically small, and slow. It was almost sluggish.

She stared at the end of the street, where her safety lies. It seemed so far away, when it really was only half a mile.

A shrill scream of a little girl as she watched her mother be buried under a pile of rubble pierced Sakura's heart in such a way she couldn't understand. She raised her hand and grabbed her shirt where her heart should be, tightly. More tears flowed.

She hesitated for a moment, her body already twisting to pick the little girl up, before another pile of rubble collapse on the girl. The last thing the innocent girl saw had been the petrified face of a pink-haired girl who was practically soaked in her own blood.

Sakura nearly choke on her own sobs and bile rose in her throat. She backed away and turned back to the direction she was heading, stumbling as she did so.

_Move faster. Run. Keep moving. _

Sakura cried out as another bomb went off, sending chunks of glass and metal flying everywhere. This bomb went off _way too close_ to where she was. Upon instinct, the rosette leapt to the side to avoid getting pierced by a particularly sharp end of a pipe.

Exhausted, she trudged on. The muscles on her legs and arms were burning, and they felt like lead. She was barely even running now.

Dressed in only a tennis vest, skirt and shoes, she suffered cuts and bruises on her arms and legs, obtained from each explosion. She had ignored the stinging pain when she ran down the street. Adrenaline and shock had been pumping through her being, causing her to block out all the pain. Now that the adrenaline had sort of died down, even though the shock was still present, she was slowly beginning to feel the effects of the wounds. She had also used up most of her energy during tennis practice.

Her vision getting blurry, she stumbled on, coughing.

Another explosion, louder this time, and then Sakura felt a blinding pain on the left side of her abdomen. She looked down, and almost shrieked. An extremely sharp piece of glass had actually pierced through her side, leaving a deep gash there, where crimson blood flowed freely. It stained her light pink tennis vest, and soon spread to her tennis skirt.

Sakura winced as she pressed her hand on her side to try and stop the bleeding. She went on, barely making any progress, not even running straight or properly, as the world slowly spun around her in a big swirl of run-down houses and cracked streets.

Then there was an explosion, just two blocks from her. The sheer force of the explosion caused Sakura to be blown off her feet, land a few meters ahead with a loud thud, and rolled to a halt, lying face-down in the dirt.

Now she knew she wasn't going to make it. Her body just couldn't take the strain anymore. Her knees were scraped raw from the fall, and her legs were numb from all the running. Her left arm was beneath her, cushioning her torso. It was bent in a weird angle; broken.

Desperately, Sakura raised her head and clawed at the ground with her good arm. Looking up, she knew she was beyond hope. The shelter was too far away, and she could barely stand up, let alone run.

Determinedly, Sakura clawed even more at the ground, moving, but just barely. At least if she didn't make it, she'd die knowing that she tried.

And then she sensed it. She knew, even before it actually happened, that the building right next to her tired form was going to blow up, harder than the other buildings. Her exhausted brain didn't have time to ponder on the fact that she had just sensed that something was going to happen before it actually happened, before she saw a huge flash of orange, red and yellow, which was followed by a loud boom.

It sounded so… _so… far… away…_

Sakura stared at the inferno with empty jade eyes, knowing that it was really her end as she watched the fire reach out at her. It looked so welcoming at the moment. It'll take her away from the pain and sorrow. She'll finally be... _free…_

Her body slumped to the ground as her eyes slowly drifted shut.

"_NO! Sasuke-teme! The fire's - !"_

"_I'll be fine, Naruto."_

"_B-but I don't want to lose you like how I lost Neji!"_

"_Jeez, you sound like a girl, dobe. See you at the shelter."_

Almost like a dream, every sound around her shut off, except for the soft, tinkling sound which seemed to echo in her mind, radiating comfort in ripples.

Suddenly, beautiful, onyx orbs met emerald ones. For a fleeting second, Sakura thought she was looking at death straight in the face, but the next, all thought was gone from her mind as obsidian turned blood red.

There was a whirl of a cloak, and then black oblivion.

_I like his eyes.

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**Author's Note:** Review if you wanna.


	2. Naruto,Sasuke and Sakura

**Author's Note:** Yo.

Just needed you guys to know that I got my inspiration back from the song 'We are broken' by Paramore. It's an uber depressing song. Seriously. And it sorta fits what I'm writing about. Haha. -.-

Enjoy.

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"Ouch. That arm looks _nasty_," a raspy male voice said. A soft snort was heard.

"Tell me 'bout it," another deeper and smoother male voice said.

"Ah! I think she's coming to. Better fix it up soon, teme," the first voice said, anxious.

"Hn." There was a soft rustle of fabric as the two males shuffled around to give the second person space to fix her arm.

"Hold her down for me," his voice was smooth as velvet, unwavering, suggesting of masculine strength and authority.

Strong hands wrapped its long fingers around her slumped shoulders.

Someone who was close to her exhaled slowly. She felt the warm air turn cold on her bloodied skin. There was a sudden jerk to her arm as it was popped back into place. Sharp pain momentarily flooded her body, before ceasing completely.

"_Ow!_" Sakura breathed, more out of surprise than pain. The other hand instinctively drifted to the newly healed arm. Her emerald eyes slowly fluttered open, blinking quickly to make her eyes adjust to the dim lighting.

She, and whoever was with her, was in some kind of bomb shelter. She was lying on the ground from the feel of it.

Her vision steadily began to focus on the faces of the two, _extremely handsome_, boys leaning down and looking at her, one curious and the other expressionless, on either side of her.

One had bright, cerulean eyes, messy blonde hair which stuck up in every direction humanly possible, weird whisker marks on his cheeks, and a big, broad grin. He was rather lanky.

The other, however, was the complete opposite. He had raven coloured hair with long bangs framing his angular and pale face, and it was spiked up at the back, frankly speaking, like a chicken's ass. Intense, onyx eyes gazed into her jade ones and his face was an impassive mask. He, on the other hand, was rather lean.

"Wha - ?" Before she could even utter a complete word, the blonde boy squealed and hugged her from the side, resting his chin on her small shoulder.

"UWAH! She's alive! She's_ alliiiiivveeee_!!" he exclaimed dramatically. She was still too disoriented to understand much at the moment. She dimly noted that the raven-haired boy was peering at her with such intensity she could have melted.

Gazing into his cold black eyes, she finally comprehended her previous situation…

_An inferno._

_Obsidian eyes._

_Crimson._

"How did I… you?" her confused and slightly frightened gaze drifted to the raven-haired boy. The blonde one patted the other on his back.

"You saved me," Sakura whispered almost inaudibly. The stoic boy nodded curtly. He was expecting teary thank yous and hugs and kisses and all that crap. He, however, was not expecting what he got.

"You… you…" Sakura began to say, stuttering slightly. Sasuke and Naruto quirked an eyebrow in unison.

"You _freaking IDIOT_!" And a fist suddenly flashed through the air and Sasuke barely evaded that lethal little fist, which then smashed into the stone wall behind him. And the freaking wall actually cracked.

While the Uchiha appeared outwardly calm and composed, despite looking slightly wide-eyed, inner Sasuke was rolling around, clutching his face and screaming, _"Ohmygod, ohmygod That was too close! TOO CLOSE!"_

"Whoa…" Naruto said, going starry-eyed. Sasuke, on the other hand, was pissed.

"What. The HELL. Is. Your problem, woman?!" he seethed. After all, he did risk burning his hair to save her.

With one knee on the ground and the other leg stretched out slightly to the side, he looked ready to kill. _Was it her, or was his irises spinning in blood red?_

"I could have DIED! Why didn't you just let me freaking _die_?!" Sakura yelled furiously, clutching her hair in irritation with the heroic boy. Naruto gasped. Sasuke was silent. And his eye was twitching violently.

In his mind, _'Let her die? Let her DIE?! DO I LOOK THAT CRUEL TO YOU?!'_

"… Hey," the Haruno suddenly muttered softly. She was obviously oblivious to the murderous look on Sasuke's face, radiating off his form.

"I – I'm… uh… Sorry," she said, just as softly, lowering her head and looking to the side in shame, her cheeks a slight hue of pink. The rage that the dark haired boy had towards her diminished as she explained herself.

"I mean, um, I didn't think I had any chance of living and I thought that if I actually died, I'd finally be free of all this crap… this hell hole you call life…" Her voice slowly trailed off.

An awkward silence.

Sakura cleared her throat.

"And thank you," she added, bowing slightly towards Sasuke and Naruto to show her sincerity. The two boys stared at her, one scrutinizing, the other adoring.

"Thank you for treating my injuries even though you don't know me, and saving my life," she continued, bowing even lower. It was true; the wound in her side was wrapped up in clean bandages, and she could smell some kind of antiseptic, her previously dislocated arm was popped right back in place, and there was only a small amount of dried blood on her now as they had wiped away most of it. Her bruised knees were wrapped in clean, white bandages. Her clothes were still intact, though.

Sasuke and Naruto exchanged looks, before Sasuke sighed and closed his eyes, relaxing slightly.

"Hn."

Naruto grinned widely and slung an arm over Sakura's shoulder, surprising her.

"So what's ya name??" the blonde asked the pinkette excitedly. Sakura smiled softly at his antics.

"Haruno Sakura!" she said, her smile turning into a full blown grin as she stuck out a dainty hand for him to shake.

"You are so. Freaking. _Adorable_! I'M UZUMAKI NARUTO!" he almost nearly yelled, causing Sakura to laugh out loud and Sasuke to run a hand down his face. The two newly acquainted friends shook hands vigorously, similar grins on their faces.

"And you are…?" Sakura asked politely, a small hand in between her and Sasuke. He glanced at the girl's hand, before smirking.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

And they shook hands, the girl smiling brightly, the boy smirking. It was only when his shoulder shifted slightly to shake Sakura's hand that she noticed the metal chain around his neck, with two titanium rings on it. She noted some engravings on each ring, but couldn't really see what it said. It had clinked softly together when he moved.

Sakura smiled slightly. _So that was what the tinkling sound was, when he came to save me._

The moment was disrupted with a loud rumbling. Sasuke glared at Naruto, who in turn flushed in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He laughed nervously. Sakura giggled. Sasuke sighed.

"I guess it can't be helped," he muttered, standing up and dusting off the dirt from his pants. "We need to find some food and definitely some clothes for Sakura."

Sakura frowned and looked at herself, before her face flushed with colour; her tennis outfit was _ruined_. As in, torn in _certain_ places…

Sasuke swiftly took off his trench coat, and tossed it nonchalantly to the rosette, who in turn gave him a questioning look.

"In the meantime, put that on," Sasuke instructed, gloved hands shoved deeps into his jean which looked like it had reached beyond the filthy stage a long time ago. He had a black button-down shirt, the long sleeves rolled up to reveal his forearm and a white t-shirt under that shirt. The weird thing was that the shirts looked clean, compared to the trench coat. But that isn't really saying much anyway.

Sakura took a moment to admire the muscles on his arm, before assessing his partner.

Naruto dressed less strangely than Sasuke, who, in her opinion, dressed like he was going on a _date_. But that simply meant that he knew how to dress well.

The blonde boy had on these slightly stained faded jeans, and a grey hoodie over an orange shirt. His orange sneakers were nearing the fluorescent limit.

"Wha – you mean I'm gonna start hanging around you guys now?" Sakura asked, rather hopeful as she snapped out of her near-ogling. Sasuke and Naruto looked at her as if her hair was pink. Oh wait, nevermind.

"Oh _noooo_. We're gonna kick you back out there after all the risks I took, trying to save your ass," Sasuke said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Sakura pouted, but muttered a small thanks. Sasuke glanced at her before nodding. He then turned to regard his blonde friend.

"Naruto, go get some food. I'll go get some clothes for Sakura," he said with an air of authority, his eyes drifting over Sakura's petite form before looking away. He was already making his way to the shelter door. Naruto huffed and stuck out his tongue at the Uchiha's back, before smiling at the Haruno and getting up, dashing out the shelter door before Sasuke could say anything else.

Naruto didn't question the Uchiha regarding why Sasuke got to get clothes for Sakura instead of Naruto himself. The blonde knew that the raven-haired boy was much, _much, _more stealthier than he'll ever be, if you catch my drift.

Sasuke frowned and titled his head to the side in confusion, before shaking his head with a soft sigh.

"Take care of yourself. We won't be long," Sasuke muttered over his shoulder to the girl before he closed the door.

**

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Author's Note: **Just review if you wanna.**  
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